The Aesthetic Mind

Philosophy and Psychology

Edited by Elisabeth Schellekens and Peter Goldie

Illuminates key questions about human experience, expression, and understanding of the world

Draws together the latest research in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and social anthropology

Discusses a wide range of artforms

The Aesthetic Mind

Philosophy and Psychology

Edited by Elisabeth Schellekens and Peter Goldie

Description

The Aesthetic Mind breaks new ground in bringing together empirical sciences and philosophy to enhance our understanding of aesthetics and the experience of art. An eminent international team of experts presents new research in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and social anthropology: they explore the roles of emotion, imagination, empathy, and beauty in this realm of human experience, ranging over visual and literary art, music, and dance. Among the questions discussed are: Why do we engage with things aesthetically and why do we create art? Does art or aesthetic experience have a function or functions? Which characteristics distinguish aesthetic mental states? Which skills or abilities do we put to use when we engage aesthetically with an object and how does that compare with non-aesthetic experiences? What does our ability to create art and engage aesthetically with things tell us about what it is to be a human being? This ambitious and far-reaching volume is essential reading for anyone investigating the aesthetic and the artistic.

The Aesthetic Mind

Philosophy and Psychology

Edited by Elisabeth Schellekens and Peter Goldie

Author Information

Edited by Elisabeth Schellekens, University of Durham, and Peter Goldie, formerly University of Manchester

Elisabeth Schellekens is Senior Lecturer at the University of Durham, and Associate Editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics. She is the author of Aesthetics & Morality (Continuum, 2007), co-author of Who's Afraid of Conceptual Art (Routledge, 2009), and is currently working on a book on Aesthetic Objectivism. She was post-doctoral research fellow on the AHRC-funded project 'Towards an aesthetic psychology: the philosophy of aesthetic perception and cognition' between 2004 and 2006. Her main research interests include questions at the intersection of the philosophy of mind and aesthetics, meta-ethics, and Kant.

Peter Goldie was formerly Samuel Hall Professor in Philosophy at the University of Manchester. He authored a number of books, including The Mess Inside (OUP, 2012), Philosophy and Conceptual Art (OUP, 2007), On Personality (Routledge, 2004), and The Emotions: A Philosophical Exploration (Clarendon Press, 2000).

Contributors:

Noël Carroll, Graduate Center of the City University of New YorkZanna Clay, St Andrews UniversityRoddy Cowie, Queen's University, BelfastGregory Currie, University of NottinghamDavid Davies, McGill UniversityStephen Davies, University of Auckland in New ZealandNorman H. Freeman, University of BristolRoman Frigg, London School of EconomicsPeter Goldie, University of ManchesterCatherine Howard, University of New South WalesMarco Iacoboni, UCLAMatthew Kieran, University of LeedsPeter Lamarque, University of YorkRobert Layton, University of DurhamJerrold Levinson, University of MarylandDerek Matravers, Open UniversityI. C. McManus, University College LondonAaron Meskin, University of LeedsDavid Miall, University of Alberta, CanadaMargaret Moore, University of LeedsJesse Prinz, City University of New YorkLena Quinto, Macquarie UniversityMark Rollins, Washington University, St. LouisEdmund Rolls, Oxford Centre for Computational NeuroscienceElisabeth Schellekens, University of DurhamDorothy Singer, Yale UniversityJerome Singer, Yale UniversityKathleen Stock, University of SussexWilliam Forde Thompson, Macquarie UniversityJonathan Weinberg, Indiana University, BloomingtonDahlia W. Zaidel, UCLA

The Aesthetic Mind

Philosophy and Psychology

Edited by Elisabeth Schellekens and Peter Goldie

Reviews and Awards

"The question of what we philosophers of art ought to make of empirical research results and methods is one whose answer we are still very much feeling our way towards. The great value of this collection is that, with it, the terrain we must traverse to do so is now all the clearer." - Dan Cavedon-Taylor, Mind